1. The Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century
a. was stimulated by a revived interest in Galen and
Aristotle.
b. directly resulted from reaction and revolt against the
social and historical conditions of the Middle Ages.
c. was largely due to a monastic revolution.
d. although an innovative phase in western thinking,
was based upon the intellectual and scientific
accomplishments of previous centuries.
e. was a complete break with the past.
2. All of the following are considered possible
influences and causes of the Scientific Revolution
except
a. the practical knowledge and technical skills
emphasized by sixteenth-century universities.
b. mathematical and naturalistic skills of Renaissance
artists.
c. the Hermetic belief in magic and alchemy.
d. the humanists' rediscovery of Greek mathematicians
and thinkers.
e. the inspired work of a few intellectuals.
3. Which of these ancient authorities was
not relied on by medieval scholars?
a. Aristotle
b. Galen
c. Ptolemy
d. Galileo
e. Plato
4. According to Leonardo da Vinci, what
subject was the key to understanding the
nature of things?
a. astronomy
b. art
c. biology
d. the Bible
e. mathematics.
5. Scholars devoted to Hermeticism
a. believed that the world was a very recent
creation still imperfect.
b. credited the devil with control over the dark
secrets of nature.
c. saw the world as a living embodiment of
divinity where humans could use mathematics
and magic to dominate nature.
d. retreated from study of the natural world to
concentrate on mastery of theories of magic.
e. a and d
6. The general conception of the universe before
Copernicus was that
a. it was orderly with heaven at the center and the
earth circling around it.
b. the earth was the stationary center and heavenly
spheres orbited it.
c. the earth rested on the shell of a giant tortoise.
d. it could not be revealed according to God's will.
e. the world was flat.
7. The greatest achievements in science during
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries came in
what three areas?
a. astronomy, medicine, and mechanics.
b. astronomy, botany, and chemistry
c. biology, mechanics, and ballistics
d. engineering, physics, and dentistry
e. biology, surgery, and astronomy
8. The Ptolemaic conception of the universe was
also known as
a. God's master plan.
b. the geocentric conception.
c. the lunacentric conception.
d. the expanding universe.
e. the pantheistic theory.
9. Copernicus preferred the heliocentric model
because
a. as a Protestant, he felt free to disagree with
the Pope.
b. it earned him lots of money and fame.
c. it made the planetary orbits easier to
calculate.
d. he regarded the Sun as the most powerful
god
e. the sun is the source of all energy on earth.
10. Copernicus's major book was titled
a. On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.
b. Novum Organum.
c. Principia.
d. On the Motion of the Heart and Blood.
e. The Great Instauration.
11.
The immediate reaction of the clerics to the theories of
Copernicus was
a. condemnation, initially by Protestant leaders like Luther
who condemned the discovery as contrary to their literal
interpretation of the Bible.
b. broad approval motivated by their now higher educational
achievements.
c. confused silence.
d. the calling of the Council of Dort by Protestants and
Catholics to question the astronomer closely prior to trial for
blasphemy.
e. apathy because they could not understand either his theory
or his calculations.
12. The ideas of Copernicus were
a. radically different from Aristotle's principle
of the existence of heavenly spheres.
b. nearly as complicated as those of Ptolemy.
c. were just like the ideas of today.
d. quite consistent with Biblical ideas.
e. similar to those of Ptolemy but different
from those of Aristotle.
13. Following upon Copernicus's heliocentric theories
a. Johannes Kepler used data to derive laws of planetary
motion that confirmed Copernicus's heliocentric theory
but that showed the orbits were elliptical.
b. Kepler observed the heavens and proved that planetary
motion was circular around the sun.
c. Kepler used magic to prove that the earth moved in a
manner based on geometric figures, trying to bring
harmony of the human soul into alignment with the
universe.
d. Galileo and Kepler demonstrated that the motion of the
planets is steady and unchanging.
e. Kepler discovered the three laws of thermodynamics.
14. Tycho Brahe contributed to the advance of
astronomy by
a. working out the theory of inertia.
b. making accurate observations of the planets.
c. calculating the pull of gravity on the tides by the
moon.
d. calculating the distance to the sun.
e. inventing the astrolabe.
15. Johannes Kepler was the first
astronomer to show that
a. the planets are made of earth-like
material.
b. planetary orbits are elliptical.
c. the stars are immensely far away.
d. everything is an illusion.
e. the moon orbits around the earth.
16. Galileo wrote
a. nothing of note.
b. a translation of the Bible in Italian.
c. The Starry Messenger.
d. On the Revolutions of the Heavenly
Spheres.
e. Principia.
17. The first European to make systematic
observations of the heavens by telescope was
a. Galileo.
b. Copernicus.
c. Brahe.
d. Kepler.
e. Newton.
18. Galileo was convicted of heresy and
sentenced to house arrest for life in 1633 for
a. denying the existence of God.
b. dropping heavy objects from the Leaning
Tower of Pisa.
c. being a recipient of Medici funding.
d. claiming that Copernicus was in league with
the Devil.
e. ridiculing the Ptolemaic model in print.
19. Galileo's Dialogue on the Two World Systems
was really an attempt to
a. embarrass Copernicus.
b. support Copernicus through a publication in
Italian accessible to a wide audience.
c. attack Luther and Protestant theological
restrictions on scientific inquiry.
d. apologize to the church for earlier theories he
now saw as mistaken.
e. oppose the dogma and doctrine of the Catholic
Church.
20. What actions did the Catholic Church pursue
concerning Galileo and his ideas?
a. authorities reluctantly agreed to his theories
b. turned him over to the Papal Curia.
c. allowed Galileo six months to change his mind
concerning his theories
d. forced to recant them in a trial before the
Inquisition
e. turned him over to the Inquisition to be tortured
21. Galileo's ideas on motion included the
a. law of planetary motion.
b. idea that a rush of air behind a projectile kept
it in motion.
c. law of force x distance.
d. spring reaction model.
e. principle of inertia.
22. Isaac Newton's scientific discoveries
a. were resisted more in his own country, England, than
in the rest of Europe.
b. although readily accepted in his own country, were
resisted on the continent.
c. were modern in their removal of God from universal
laws.
d. were among the first to be printed in a language
other than Latin.
e. were initially condemned by the Church of England
and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
23. Newton's contribution to astronomy was to prove
that
a. the planets obey the same laws as do objects on
earth.
b. accurate observation is the foundation of sound
theory.
c. the earth is at the center of the solar system.
d. nothing can ever really be proven.
e. the moon is not made of green cheese.
24. Newton invented
a. a technique for unclogging arteries.
b. a new type of kiln.
c. mathematics.
d. the calculus
e. alchemical principles still drawn on
to this day.
25. Newton's major work was
a. Novum Organum.
b. Principia.
c. On the Revolutions of the Heavenly
Spheres.
d. Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy.
e. Utopia.
26. Paracelsus revolutionized the world of medicine
in the sixteenth century by
a. disproving Galen's ancient theory of two separate
blood systems.
b. dissecting human rather than animal cadavers.
c. advocating the chemical philosophy of medicine.
d. rejecting the medieval medical philosophy of the
four humors.
e. discovering the circulation of blood throughout the
body.
27. Among the following, who is not associated with
major changes in sixteenth and seventeenth-century
scientific research?
a. Vesalius
b. Harvey
c. Paracelsus
d. Galen
e. Boyle
28. On the Fabric of the Human Body
a. was Andreas Vesalius' masterpiece on anatomical
structure.
b. contained William Harvey's theories on blood
circulation.
c. contained Paracelsus' theories on a macrocosmmicrocosm universe.
d. was Galen's masterpiece that influenced so many
doctors in the Middle Ages.
e. was Cavendish's theory of human dissection.
29. William Harvey's On the Motion of the
Heart and Blood refuted the ideas of
a. the immune system being associated with the
pancreas.
b. the brain stem being disconnected from the
brain.
c. the independent functioning of the lymph
system.
d. herbal healing.
e. the liver as the beginning point of the
circulation of blood.
30. The scientist whose work led to the law that
states that the volume of a gas varies with the
pressure exerted upon it and who argued that
matter is composed of atoms, later known as the
chemical elements, was
a. William Harvey.
b. Paracelsus.
c. Andreas Vesalius.
d. Robert Boyle.
e. Antoine Lavoisier.
31. Antoine Lavoisier
a. discovered the law of gasses.
b. gave scientific proof to the theories of
Newton.
c. reconciled religion and reason in his
Pensees.
d. was the father of the Scientific
Revolution.
e. is regarded as the father of modern
chemistry.
32. The role of women in the Scientific Revolution is
illustrated by
a. the scientific community's growing acceptance of
female members.
b. Maria Merian's breakthrough in astronomy.
c. Margaret Cavendish, who participated in her era's
scientific debates.
d. Maria Winkelmann, an entomologist accepted into
the Berlin Academy of Sciences.
e. the exclusion and absence of women from any
scientific investigations.
33. The overall effect of the Scientific Revolution
on the argument about women was to
a. dispel traditional myths of female inferiority.
b. increase the role of women in the child-bearing
process.
c. generate facts about differences between men and
women that were used to prove male dominance.
d. demonstrate that there was no inherent skeletal
differences between the sexes.
e. allow women to enroll in most of Europe's
universities.
34. Margaret Cavendish attacked the belief
a. that humans through science were masters
of nature.
b. that science was for the benefit of all
humanity.
c. in women being equal to men, despite her
position.
d. of a Newtonian world-machine.
e. of a heliocentric universe.
35. Maria Winkelmann
a. was an English aristocrat.
b. a German astronomer.
c. became a member of the Berlin Academy and
England's Royal Society for her scientific work.
d. was the mother of the more famous Robert Boyle.
e. b and c
36. Benedict Spinoza believed that women
a. were equal to men.
b. were little more than animals without a
soul.
c. were "naturally" inferior to men.
d. could stand on their own, but society
functioned far better when men alone ruled.
e. were superior to men in their intellects but
not in their emotions.
37. The philosophy of René Descartes
a. stressed a separation of mind and matter.
b. stressed a holistic universe of mind and matter devoid
of a creator-God.
c. saw the material world as a living thing containing the
human essence.
d. would not have a wide influence upon Western
thought until the nineteenth century.
e. was condemned by the government of the Dutch
Republic.
38. What was the name of Descartes' book that
expounded his theories about the universe?
a. On the Revolution of Heavenly Bodies
b. On the Fabric of the Human Body
c. Two Natures
d. Mind Over Matter
e. Discourse on Method
39. Descartes believed that the world could be
understood by
a. the same principles inherent in mathematical
thinking.
b. quiet contemplation and following of the
Scriptures.
c. mystical experiences.
d. interpreting dreams and applying that
knowledge to our everyday lives.
e. incorporating the mind with the body.
40. The Foundation of Francis Bacon's
methodology was
a. inductive reasoning.
b. speculative reasoning.
c. deductive reasoning.
d. triangulation.
e. nonsense.
41. Organized religions in the seventeenth century
a. conceded the accomplishments of science and separated
theology from science proper.
b. rejected scientific discoveries that conflicted with the
Christian view of the world.
c. contributed greatly to scientific research.
d. largely ignored science as merely a "toy for the minds of
God's children."
e. rapidly reoriented their theologies to accept the findings of
modern science.
42. Benedict de Spinoza
a. believed that humans were created separate from
nature in order to rule the earth.
b. claimed that God was not just the creator the
universe God was the universe.
c. accepted Descartes' theory about the separation
between mind and matter.
d. rejected all forms of pantheistic belief.
e. disagreed with the theory of a heliocentric
universe.
43. For Spinoza, the failure to understand God
led to
a. false worship of nature.
b. people using nature for their own self-interest.
c. a lack of moral judgment of others.
d. sexual perversion.
e. the establishment of divine right monarchies.
44. In his work Pensees, Pascal
a. showed that science and religion were
incompatible.
b. popularized the scientific method.
c. offered his thoughts on the heliocentric theory.
d. attempted to convince rationalists that Christianity
was valid by appealing to their reason
and emotions.
e. advocated the importance of thought.
45. For Blaise Pascal, humans
a. could know infinity through reason.
b. were the summation of all things.
c. could only understand that which is revealed to
them by the Bible.
d. were uniquely separate from the rest of the animal
world.
e. could not understand infinity, only God could.
46. Concerning the first important scientific societies, the
French Academy differed from the English Royal
Society in the former's
a. government support and control.
b. publication of scientific journals.
c. focus on theoretical work in mechanics and astronomy.
d. belief that science should proceed along the lines of a
cooperative venture.
e. lack of support by the French government.
47. During the seventeenth century, royal and
princely patronage of science
a. declined greatly.
b. was common only in Italy.
c. became an international phenomenon.
d. replaced funding by the church.
e. was directed only towards pure research.
48. The scientific societies of early modern Europe
established the first
a. fund-raising events for medical research.
b. scientific journals appearing regularly.
c. code of ethics for experimentation on humans
and animals.
d. college departments for scientific study.
e. international European institutions for the study
of all branches of science and
mathematics.
49. Science became an integral part of Western culture in
the eighteenth century because
a. people perceived it to be rationally superior to other
belief systems.
b. its mechanistic nature was popular with the lower
classes.
c. the victory of radical political groups, such as the
Levellers, following the Puritan Revolution encouraged
freedom of expression.
d. it offered a new means to make profits and maintain
social order.
e. it allowed an alternative religious belief system to that of
Christianity.
50. Which one of the following comments best summarizes
impact of the Scientific Revolution on Western
Civilization?
a. It was of little consequence.
b. The term "Revolution" is a misnomer that ought not be
applied.
c. It was a major turning point.
d. It destroyed the moral foundation of a Christian
civilization.
e. It was a minor turning point.